Center for Constitutional Rights: Students Face Death Threats for Speaking in Support of Palestinian Rights

April 25, 2012, New York–Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights and other Rights Groups issued the following statement in support of student groups promoting awareness in college communities about the Palestinian peoples’ struggle for freedom and human rights. Members of the student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Florida Atlantic University recently faced intense pressure from outside groups and were the subject of death threats after organizing a non-violent action to protest the demolition of Palestinian homes by Israeli forces. Students participating in the action posted 200 fake eviction notices on dorm room doors to raise awareness of the issue.

Statement in Support of Student Speech on Palestinian Rights

When members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) randomly posted fake eviction notices on about 200 dorm room doors at Florida Atlantic University on 30 March 30 2012, they thought they were teaching fellow students about Israel’s practice of evicting Palestinian families and demolishing their homes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in violation of international law. But their action was soon the subject of an altogether different lesson. The students learned that the University was willing to bow to pressure from the campus Hillel chapter and outside organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Zionist Organization of America, by opening an investigation into their peaceful action, which had been officially authorized and accompanied by University housing authorities. And some news media were willing to report falsely that the notices were posted only on the doors of Jewish students, without independently investigating the matter. Legal and administrative action was threatened, and death threats were made against some of the student activists.

After weeks of turmoil, the University rightly announced that it would not take action against the students and confirmed that there was no evidence that Jewish students were targeted by the notices. Other student Palestinian human rights activists across the country have been less fortunate, including at the University of California (UC) – Irvine, Rutgers University, Columbia University, the [University of Pennsylvania],UC-Berkeley, [Brandeis] and UC-Davis. Students at these and other universities have been verbally and physically intimidated, threatened, sanctioned by their universities, and even criminally charged. What they all share in common is vocal and active peaceful opposition to violations of Palestinian human rights.

We, the undersigned, condemn efforts, both on and off campus, to silence student speech in support of Palestinian rights, and affirm the First Amendment rights of students to engage in such speech. It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the conduct of the State of Israel. It is not “hate speech” to challenge violations of international law and internationally recognized human rights standards.

Such criticism is no less protected because some individuals may find it upsetting. As the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Terminiello v. Chicago, speech “may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea.” Protection of free speech rights “is nowhere more vital” than on campuses. (Keyishian v. Bd. Of Regents of Univ. of State of N.Y).

We urge all universities to resist outside pressure to punish students for their political speech, and to respond with the respect for students’ constitutional rights that it is the university’s duty to protect and to promote. For our part, we will stand by such students to defend their constitutional rights to free speech when they exercise them, and challenge attempts to silence them solely for their political views.

The FAU incident is the latest example of the hostility and intimidation many students face for organizing non-violent actions to educate their communities about Palestinian human rights. The Center for Constitutional Rights condemns these attempts to silence political speech and affirms its commitment to defending the First Amendment rights of college students to advocate for Palestinians’ human rights and challengeIsrael’s occupation.